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Archaic customs hold community back from development
With rigid traditions and customs such as not eating food cooked by other communities, the Thottinayakar community in Tamil Nadu is lagging in social, educational and economic development
Rural BPO centers in Bihar open new doors for girls
Business process outsourcing companies in rural Bihar are providing local job opportunities for educated, computer-literate girls in their village, empowering them socially and financially
Only neglected India lives in the villages
On Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, a look at rural India shows that we have fallen much behind his ideal of self-reliant village republics, in part because of changed aspirations of modern times
Rural youth turn software developers right after school
Rural youth with the right aptitude are trained and employed in a technology company in Tirunelveli. Local employment has prevented migration and improved the families’ economic status
Handcrafted Baluchari sarees see festive resurgence
The exquisitely handcrafted Baluchari sarees of Bengal have made a welcome comeback. Once forced into menial jobs, Baluchari weavers are busy again because demand is increasing
Kashmiri farmers struggle to sell bumper fruit harvest
Despite a good harvest of apples and pears, farmers in Kashmir are finding it difficult to sell their produce due to restrictions imposed by the authorities on transportation and communication facilities
Odiya tribes shed tradition to space out childbirths
Odisha’s tribal women, suffering the adverse health effects of childbirths in quick succession combined with strenuous agricultural and household work, are breaking community norms to use contraceptives
Native Amrit Mahal cattle need better conservation
There is an urgent need for better conservation of Amrit Mahal, a draughty, native breed of Karnataka that can toil and endure for long hours at a stretch, but have been dwindling in numbers
Are handlooms in rural India only capable of weaving poverty?
We need to reflect why once handlooms wove joy, culture and incomes but today weave only poverty, unable to sustain livelihoods of people in our villages, except for a few outliers
Smart water management mitigates coastal salinity
Rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge through ponds and desilting of check dams have curtailed salinity ingress in coastal Gujarat, increasing freshwater availability
Better awareness improves maternal and child health
Awareness meetings that equip women with knowledge on health and nutrition during pregnancy and after childbirth is helping to tackle malnutrition in rural Singhbhum in Jharkhand
Digital tech in curriculum enriches participatory learning
By enabling teachers design applications and help students create artifacts, best practices in use of technological tools can facilitate contextualized learning and its application
Cattle farmers revive traditional herbal remedies
Farmers in Tamil Nadu are switching to traditional remedies for cattle because ethno-veterinary medicine made with locally available herbs are more effective in controlling diseases at minimal cost
Bhunjia women need better care after childbirth
Women of Odisha’s forest-dwelling tribes face a greater health risk because of their preference for childbirth at home. Counseling by health workers is now slowly helping new mothers get better postnatal care
Missing foot soldiers in the war on poverty
Unless the government improves the anemic delivery structure of rural health and education, the neglected and overworked frontline workers will not be able to fight underdevelopment adequately
Vasai volunteers recharge ponds to raise water table
Volunteers in the villages of Vasai-Virar have revived traditional water ponds that were originally dug for irrigation. It has resulted in recharged aquifers and increased water availability for farming
Kerala’s cash crops face the heat of climate change
Coffee and pepper farmers in Wayanad are suffering losses caused by a rise in local temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall in a district whose residents once boasted of its air-conditioned climate
Community bathrooms help women bathe in privacy
For most women in Bengal’s villages, a bath is a hurried dip in ponds while fully clothed to avoid the unwelcome male gaze. Community bathrooms enable them bathe in private and maintain better hygiene
Kerala volunteers improve life of mental health patients
A volunteer-driven community initiative offers professional diagnosis and free mental health treatment to patients from marginalized sections in rural Kerala, and helps them to return to normalcy
Bengal’s weavers revive muslin, spin success
The revival of muslin, a fine cotton cloth famous for centuries, has infused financial stability into the lives of traditional spinners and weavers of West Bengal who were struggling for survival earlier